Welcome To Our Journey!

Hi Friends, Family, and Followers,

We have decided to start a blog so that everyone can stay up to date on our adoption journey. The blog site is "HudsonHopes" because Hudson hopes for a baby brother or sister. Well, really he wants both. :)

For anyone who doesn't know our story, here it is in a nutshell, a very small nutshell...

A little over 2 years after having our son Hudson, who we now know is a complete miracle, we started trying to have a second child. We were expecting 2 times. The first was an abdominal pregnancy. The baby was attached to the outside of the uterus and had to be surgically removed. The second pregnancy also ended in surgery. The doctors thought it was a tubal pregnancy, but they did not find the baby in the tube. However, they determined that pregnancy was no longer an option because the ovary, tube, and uterus are compacted too close together.

We have always wanted to adopt. It's just happening a little sooner now! We are adopting domestically through Bethany Christian Services. They are a very large agency, and we are choosing to make ourselves available to a child anywhere in the U.S., not just Tennessee. Right now, our preliminary and formal applications have been approved. We have been to an orientation meeting and are starting to fill out all the home study paperwork. There's lots of it! We will start 6 weeks of training on October 14th. If everything goes smoothly, we should be on a waiting list in 3-4 months. Once we're on the list, it's just a matter of being chosen by an expecting mother. We've been told that only about 1 in 4 moms actually go through with the adoption. We know that there may be some disappointment. We are praying that we can be patient and know that God is bigger than all of this.

Another piece of this journey is, of course, raising the money. The total for our adoption is $25,000.00. We have lots of ideas! For our local friends we are selling a picture called "My Franklin". It's a collage of 25 of your favorite places. Hopefully, we'll be able to expand our towns soon! On Friday, we'll have a booth of personalized gifts set up at The French Market at Fellowship Bible Church from 4pm-9pm. We're also having a yard sale this Saturday from 8am-12pm. If you have anything you would like to donate, bring it on by! As soon as we can get a spot, we'll be having a pancake breakfast at Applebee's in Spring Hill. They do it every Saturday morning to raise money for all types of charities. Tickets will be $6.00. Stay tuned for that...

Our biggest fund raiser right now is something everybody can be a part of. A man at the orientation we went to gave us this idea. He and his wife adopted a little girl from China and did this. We have purchased a 1500 piece puzzle of Noah's Ark. We are asking that you purchase a piece for at least $5.00. We are going to put your name on your piece and on a list. The puzzle will be framed and given to our child with all the names of the people that helped he or she be a part of our family. We have a Pay Pal account set up. All you have to do is click on the button below and purchase your piece. It's that easy! However, if you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you can write a check to Fellowship Bible Church with "I Choose You" in the memo line. Mail it to us at 3154 Winberry Drive, Franklin, TN, 37064, and we will make sure it goes towards our adoption.

Thank you so much for all your support. Most of all, we need your prayers! We'll continue to keep you updated on what's going on!

Much Love,
Adam, Andrea, and Hudson